Birds of a Feather
by SSRegallyChamp
Summary: Somewhere in a parallel universe, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Rose live as regular humans that defend Beach City from a slew of alien attackers. Meanwhile, half-Gem Steven encounters a full Gem for the first time. Species swap!AU; all gems are humans and vice versa.
1. Storm Clouds

"I'm...I'm..."

"Just say it!"

"Yes, tell us."

"I'm all soggy!" wailed the cartoon croissant on the television screen. "I'm ruined; I'll never be the same! I feel so...empty inside," it continued. A cartoon glass half-filled with orange juice looked on with a guilty expression, as it was an accident on his part that had caused the croissant to be covered in orange juice. Who liked croissants with juice on them, anyway?

As the other characters gathered around their friend, they too cried tears of agony, making the croissant even soggier than before. The screen then cut to black and the end credits began to roll. The booming voice of an announcer then said, "Come back in two months to find out what happens in the next Crying Breakfast Friends episode."

"No!" yelled Steven, throwing his hands in the air and acting just as dramatic as the characters onscreen. After fumbling with the remote, he switched off the old television set. "I mean, they can't just end it there! What's going to happen to Sniffling Croissant? He can't be dead, right? Aw, man! And now we have to wait two months? I can't wait that long, I'll explode before then!" he ranted. As he was home alone, there was nobody around to hear his tirade and question why he was yelling at the TV.

He pulled the blanket off of himself, pushed the half-eaten bag of potato chips away, and stood up from the comfy chair in the living room that faced the television. Then, he began pacing aimlessly around the house.

School had been cancelled again, making the weekend start a day earlier than expected. It had been the second time that month that the school had sent everyone home. They said it was "too dangerous to be outside." He didn't feel in danger, though. Spending most of the day in front of the TV snuggled up in a warm cocoon of blankets didn't make him any more scared than he would've been during a normal thunderstorm. Besides, his mom and her friends always took care of whatever dangers plagued the town. Without fail, the monster would be gone by sunset.

On a whim, he walked to the nearest window. Pulling the curtain aside, he stared outside it, pressing his nose against the glass. The view hadn't changed much over the course of the day. It was overcast; clouds blocked the sky and made the daytime unusually dark. The restless ocean waves were choppy and foamy, disrupting a usually peaceful beach scene. Steven didn't know if the weather was caused by natural reasons or if it was a side effect of whatever alien monster was attacking town this time. It was impossible to tell anymore.

As he looked out the window, he spotted something odd. There was a strange shape that sat in front of the ocean. If he looked really hard, it almost seemed like it was a person sitting with her back to the house. He could make out the faint details of clothes and long, dark hair, and decided that it was in fact another person.

He had to wonder what a person would be doing all the way out there while the town was under attack. The house he lived in with his mom was a bit secluded from the rest of town and resided at the bottom of a cliff separating, the town from the ocean. Few people in general, let alone tourists, made their way back there, and it was almost like he had the beach all to himself. As for the person, he didn't think sitting outside alone all the way out there was the safest thing to do.

Although his mom had instructed him to stay in the house in the event of an attack, he couldn't let someone sit out in the open like that. His mom would probably understand. Who knew? Maybe the girl didn't have anywhere else to stay. All he would do is offer to let her stay in the house until everything went back to normal.

He ran to the front door, cartoons forgotten, and neglected to do so much as throw on a jacket. As soon as he opened the door, wind raised goosebumps on his arms and blew through his curly hair. Leaving the door open behind him, he jogged off towards where he'd seen the distant figure, leaving only a trail of footprints in the sand in his wake.

...

Fighting alien monsters with no special powers and equipped only with a few guns and old Gem weapons was no easy task. However, Rose and her team of deputies were up to the challenge of defending Beach City from the regular slew of attackers. As the resident police officers, the responsibility fell on their shoulders. Besides, someone had to do it.

Yet another monster had appeared seemingly out of nowhere to wreak havoc on the small town. They'd realized this after several panicked calls from citizens. After endlessly chasing the thing, Rose was beginning to grow frustrated. They were unable to catch so much as a glimpse of it. Their only clues were the destroyed buildings left behind and the descriptions that citizens had given them.

So far, according to Pearl's extensive notes taken after interviews with people who'd seen it, they were looking for a birdlike creature of some sort. It had been described as being green in color, with the ability to breathe fire.

Suddenly, Amethyst cried, "There it is!" from the backseat of the car, and pointed outside the window. All four women craned their necks to look in the direction of the monster. Sure enough, there was a flash of green that was visible for a split second before vanishing around the corner.

"I see it," said Rose from the driver's seat. She spun the steering wheel and pressed down on the gas pedal as the car turned. The police car hurtled down the thankfully near-empty streets of downtown Beach City, siren blaring and lights flashing, in pursuit of the monster.

A green shape appeared, floating in the air directly above the shops and streets. It had stopped fleeing, and instead began flying towards the car at lightning-fast speed.

They were able to see it clearly, in all its glory. All the descriptions in the world couldn't have prepared them for seeing it live. It was a sight to behold even for a group of people who fought monsters on a regular basis.

The alien was quite big, and kept itself in the air by beating its huge, feathered wings up and down. It was a brilliant dark green shade, and appeared like a huge bird with sharp talons and claws. As it came towards the car, it opened its mouth and breathed out a spurt of green fire unlike anything Rose had ever seen.

She was able to yank on the steering wheel at the last minute, and the car swerved to the other side of the road. The fire narrowly missed the car, instead burning a black, smoky spot into the nearby pavement.

Rose opened the car door after pulling it into a nearby alleyway to decrease its chances of getting roasted, and everyone else immediately followed.

In front of the car, they clustered into a tight group. Their position in the alleyway allowed them to have a few moments in relative safety before the monster found them again, and Rose put those precious few seconds to use. Appearing cool and collected, she said, "Here's the plan. The Gem is fast and evasive, so what we need to do is overwhelm it with attacks coming from multiple directions at once. If we surround it, we'll be able to distract it long enough for one of us to hit it. Amethyst, Garnet, and I could go along the back and on either side of it. Pearl, could you handle going in front of it?"

"Of course, Rose," Pearl replied, practically beaming at the responsibility.

"If we stay stationed in one spot, say, behind a mailbox or something, instead of moving around, we could fire at it with less chance that it'll burn us," said Garnet.

"That'll work," replied Rose. "Now, let's go."

Weapons in hand, they crept out of the alley and into the open, where the monster awaited them. It hadn't moved much, and hovered a few feet above the ground, searching for the people. Rose was able to hide behind a large, square, trash can from an outdoor restaurant to the side of the monster. Crouching behind the can, she watched as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl made their way to their positions while carefully evading the bird's flames. Rose gave a signal from behind the trash can, and then all four began firing their various weapons at the looming monster.

While she and Amethyst had standard human guns, which did little more than annoy most monsters they fought, the others' weapons were Gem-made and thus more effective with Gem monsters. It was Garnet and Pearl's turn to have the gem weapons on that mission. Garnet held a device that could put gem shards into bubbles, and Pearl had a ray gun that looked almost dainty-until it started shooting, that was. The weapons had once belonged to Greg, as they happened to be on the ship he escaped Homeworld on. Greg had never liked using them much, but they were necessary tools that the others needed to fight.

The monster dodged every bullet or beam of light that got thrown its way, remaining undeterred by their efforts. It responded by blowing a column of flame in Rose's direction, although she was protected by the trash can. Although the can had protected her the first time, it wouldn't do so again. The can was ruined, leaving her in full sight of the monster. It saw the opportunity and fled directly over her, casting a shadow over her entire body.

She reacted to the fire being sent her way by simply evading it. She could hear Pearl's yell of "Rose!" and the gasps of Garnet and Amethyst, but her full attention was on the monster. Her movements weren't very fast, but there was a graceful fluidity to them as she jumped and dodged the bird's flame.

The other three members of the team saw that all of the monster's energy was directed at Rose and took their chance. They all shot at the monster at once. Someone, it wasn't clear who, managed to land a hit on it.

As soon as the bird was compromised, it stopped dead. It let out a deafening screech from its beak before vanishing entirely into a puff of smoke.

There was a moment of quiet as, one by one, the team picked themselves off the ground and stood up. Pearl ran over to Rose and grabbed her by the arm. "Are you okay?" she asked, worriedly staring up into Rose's eyes. She smiled out of relief.

"Yes, I'm fine. What about all of you?"

"It's cool, we're okay too," said Amethyst, putting the gun into its holster as she walked up to them with Garnet.

"After the fight, which had actually been easier to end than she'd expected, it was nice to be able to breathe easier. In the instant the bird vanished, the dark clouds began to clear, and the monster's hold over town slipped away. Now, only the tasks of making sure the civilians were okay and bubbling the gem shard remained. Luckily, most of the Beach City denizens had retreated into their homes to wait until things cleared out.

The matter of the gem shard, however, proved to be more difficult. Pearl had taken it upon herself to find the shard of crystal that was a characteristic of all the monsters they'd ever fought. The shard, which was always located on some part of its body, was the one thing that remained after its defeat. The shard would then be bubbled after the fight, where it wasn't dead, but rather unable to be a threat to anyone.

"Well, this is highly unusual," Pearl piped up. "I can't find the shard anywhere. I looked directly underneath the spot where the bird disappeared, but it's not there."

"Maybe it's just really, really tiny," said Amethyst.

The four of them searched the area for any glimmer of green that the shard would've given off, but the search yielded nothing. The bird had vanished with one hit without leaving behind the usual gem shard, not even a tiny one. Although they were puzzled, they didn't know what else to do. "It's gone. That's what matters. It's really not a big deal, is it?" Amethyst said.

"I don't know about this. What if it's still out there somewhere?" Pearl replied.

"There's nothing else we can do. If it's still out there, there's no way of finding it. If someone calls and gives a location, then we'll have to fight it again," explained Rose.

"I suppose."

Rose wanted to go home as soon as possible, anyway. She hadn't seen Steven since early that morning, and knew that if school had been cancelled, then he would've been at home by himself all day. She longed to go back and check on him.

"Come on," she said in a laid-back tone. "Let's head back."

As the last of the clouds cleared away to reveal bright blue sky, the small team went back in the direction of the car on their way back to the office.


	2. First Contact

Slowly, the figure in the distance seemed to grow larger as Steven made his way towards her (at least he assumed it was a her). "Hey! Are you lost or something?" he shouted. His call must have gotten lost somewhere amongst the wind and crashing waves, as the girl didn't turn around or do so much as move a muscle.

He ran closer until he was right behind the girl. "Hey!" he repeated, still having to shout to be heard. "I just was wondering, since you were out here all alone in the storm by yourself and everything, if you were okay. If you don't have anywhere else to go, you can stay at my place. I mean, it's right...oh..."

He stopped talking mid-sentence as the girl turned around. When he got his first look at her, he could not bring himself to stop staring. The first thing he noticed was that she was green. In the most literal sense, her skin was actually tinted a deep forest green color. What caught him off guard the most, though, was a gemstone the same color of her skin embedded in the right side of her forehead.

Nobody Steven had ever known had a gem like that-except himself.

Intrigued, Steven sat down in the sand next to her, as she wordlessly turned back around. His face began to heat up for reasons he wasn't quite sure of, and he felt a strange nervousness course through him for a moment. There were so many things he wanted to know about her. Were there other Gems like them somewhere? Did she have magic powers? Who was she? What did she like to do?

All he actually managed to say was a tentative, "Sorry if I stared."

"No. It's fine," she said in a clipped voice, staring at the sand instead of making eye contact with Steven. Her hair fell into her face, obscuring her gem.

"Are you a Gem?"

"Yes. How do you know about them?"

"Really? I'm a Gem, too! Well, half-gem. My dad was a gem, but my mom is a human. Look," he said, lifting up his t-shirt a bit to reveal the bright pink quartz gem sitting where his belly button would've been.

"How is that possible?" she questioned, head jerking up to gape at Steven. "I've never seen anything like it before. Then again, you're the first Gem I've seen in awhile at all."

"I don't really know. It was something about how my dad used to have a physical form, and then he gave it up so Mom could have me, and that's why I have a gem, I guess," he explained as he scratched the back of his head. He had never talked about it much, especially not to people he'd just met. Then again, he'd never met another Gem before, either, so it was a new experience altogether. "So, what's your name, anyway?" he asked, steering the conversation into lighter territory.

"Oh, it's Connie."

Steven then remembered his original purpose in leaving the house."Well, Connie, if you wanted to come inside, my house is right over there!" he exclaimed, gesturing at the house that appeared tiny next to the towering cliff. Gem or not, she still might need to go inside. "I mean, it's lookin' pretty bad out here."

"Um...about that..." Connie started to say as she stood up. She seemed to shrink into herself, hunching forward and sheepishly crossing her arms. Steven didn't hear her.

"Are you going to come?" asked Steven.

"Well, okay. Just for a little while," she replied.

Steven beamed,his eyes lighting up. "Come on!" he exclaimed, running off in the direction of the house, with Connie tentatively following behind.

"So, what kind of gem is yours, anyway?" Steven asked once they reached the house. He ran up the stairs two at a time, opened the back door, and led Connie into the kitchen. into the kitchen, her head turning to look around the house. Then, Steven hopped up onto the nearest stool and began swinging his legs back and forth, while Connie stood awkwardly in the kitchen. Against the fairly ordinary house, she looked a bit lost and out of place.

She subconsciously touched the prism-shaped gem on her temple and replied, "It's a dioptase."

"Dya-what?"

"Dioptase. A cyclosilicate, translucent mineral ranging from blue green to emerald green. "

Steven chuckled and said, "Wow, you sure know a lot about it."

"I read books a lot, sometimes magazines, just whatever I can find. It gives me something to do."

"Don't you have anyone to talk to?"

"Well, no. Not really."

Frowning, Steven said, "That must get really lonely sometimes." Although he'd never met another Gem, he still had a family and people who cared about him. He couldn't imagine life without them.

"It's not so bad," Connie replied. "I've been traveling around for awhile. Your planet has a lot of beautiful things to see, and there's so much to learn, too. Like the libraries; they're amazing!"

For the next hour or so, they spent time in the kitchen talking. The time flew as she told about the places around the country she'd been to. She had mostly played it safe on her travels, and didn't go into dangerous or wild areas. Big cities were mostly where she stuck to visiting. She seemed to enjoy going to museums and the like.

As the minutes ticked by, Connie seemed to loosen up a bit. Her stiff posture gradually relaxed, and Steven saw her crack a genuine smile once or twice as she reached a funny moment in one of the stories.

"How'd you just travel around like that? What did you eat? Where did you sleep?" Steven finally asked.

"Well, Gems don't need to eat or sleep to live like humans do, as our bodies are only projections of light."

"Why do I have to do all that, then? I still have to eat and sleep, but I'm a Gem."

The minute he asked the question, he knew the answer. It hung in the air between them, as Connie looked away. It was because he was half-human. His body wasn't a projection-of-light-thingy, and it in fact did get hungry and tired like all the other people around him.

"Have you ever been to Beach City before?" he said, changing the subject to break the silence.

"No, I've never seen this place."

"So you're new? It's really cool here. If you're staying, I could introduce you to everyone sometime if you want to. There's all the kids in my class, Mom, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst-Oh! And I could show you all the places in Beach City, like the arcade and the boardwalk, and maybe you could teach me stuff about Gems, and..."

"Wait."

"What's wrong?"

"Look, you seem really nice and all, and I'd really like to get to know you more, but I can't stay here. I'm just passing through."

"Aw, can't you hang around just for just one more day?"

"I think it would be better for everyone if I was by myself," she said, a guarded look reappearing in her eyes.

Before Steven could do so much as ask her why, he could hear a car pulling up outside the house. "That's probably my mom," he said, still dejected. Sure enough, when he got off the stool in the kitchen and walked to the nearest window, it was his mom who he saw climbing out of the car. He also noticed that the sky had rapidly changed from the dark clouds from earlier to a bright blue shade.

"Thanks for letting me stay here. I have to go," said Connie. Without another word, she turned and silently walked across the house. She vanished out the still-open back door that swayed in the wind. Steven could see her running along the beach that he'd first found her on before going out of sight entirely.

Just as Connie left, the front door opened to reveal his mother. "Hello, Steven," she said.

"Hey, Mom," he replied. "So what did you do today?"

"Oh, there was a bird monster attacking town, so we had to fight it. You know, the usual," she said, reaching forward to ruffle his hair. Despite what she was saying, she seemed completely calm. "What was the highlight of your day?"

Steven was unsure of whether to tell her about his earlier encounter. Would she believe him? What would've been the point? He'd probably never see Connie again, so why bother? Then again, a large part of his mom's job was to fight monsters; and if it weren't for a Gem, he wouldn't exist at all. She would definitely believe him.

Still, he wasn't sure how she would react and decided to hold off on telling her for a little while. After all, he could only keep something like that a secret for so long until he blurted it out to the first person he saw. He just wanted to wait. In reply to his mom's question, he only said, "Not much, really."

...

Even after he'd gone to bed and woken up the next morning, Connie was still on his mind. There was so much he didn't know about her, like where she came from and why she started wandering the country in the first place. He wondered if she had already left town, what place she'd be off to next, and why she'd been sitting alone on a beach to begin with. Besides, what did she mean when she said, "It would be better for everyone if I was by myself?"

It was Saturday, so he had slept in. The numbers on the clock next to his bed read "10:03," and the day was already underway.

As he climbed out from under the blankets and got out of bed without bothering to make it, he noticed that the sky was gray once again. The view outside his bedroom window was dark and ominous, complete with the choppy waves in the ocean and what looked like thunderclouds. He wondered what that meant-was there another monster? He rubbed his bleary eyes and stretched out as he yawned, now fully awake.

As he walked around the house, he noticed how quiet it was. Normally, his mom would be at the kitchen table eating breakfast at about that time if she didn't have to get up early to go to work. The table in the kitchen was empty, with no evidence of anybody having been there. "Mom?" he called. "Are you here?"

There was no reply, and the house remained quiet. The drawn curtains and dark skies gave the normally familiar and safe house an eerie atmosphere. When a loud ringing broke the silence, Steven jumped forward, startled. That was, of course, until he turned around and realized that it was only the house phone ringing.

He walked over to it, making sure to tiptoe as quietly as he could. While he was unable to pinpoint a reason for it, he felt uneasy and wanted to move quietly just in case. He winced when he did so much as step on a creaking floorboard. Finally, he reached the phone and picked it up.

"Steven?"

"Mom?"

"I've been trying to call you all morning," she said, her voice punctuated by various crashing noises, yelling, and sirens in the background. What stood out to Steven was how honestly worried she sounded. If something was attacking, she would just fight it, right? She did that all the time; how hard could it have been?

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I'm in the car with the team right now. The monster from yesterday seems to have made a reappearance, and we're trying to track it down," she explained.

Amidst the chaos, Steven could faintly pick up Pearl's and Amethyst's voices arguing in the background. He could make out Pearl's exasperated voice saying something along the lines of "I knew we should've taken a closer look," followed by something about Gem shards.

"Steven. Listen," his mom's voice continued, an undertone of panic threatening to break through. "It's on the loose, and it could be dangerous. I just want you to be careful. Lock the doors, shut the windows, and don't leave the house until things are cleared up."

What she said next made Steven more on edge than he already was. He frowned and tensed up. It instinctively caused him to look over his shoulder as if the monster would jump out from behind somewhere at any given second. He was embarrassed by his reaction-how was he ever going to fight the monsters like his mom did if he was so scared of one? Although he was half-Gem, he couldn't have done more than hide if a monster showed up at the house.

His mom tried to sound calm and even-keeled as she spoke to him, but it didn't help much. The news was frightening all the same.

"We've been following the monster around town. Steven...we think it's heading in the direction of our house."


	3. The Warning

Aside from the obvious difference of having a gem for a belly button, Steven didn't consider himself too different from the people around him. He ate, slept, and played just like any other ten-year-old kid. The only other Gems he'd heard of were the monsters his mom fought-and Connie, of course. That left him rather defenseless against said monsters. He had already known that.

After hanging up the phone and closing and locking every door and window a monster could possibly get into, he resigned himself to another day of lying around the house. Doing nothing was fun at first, but got boring after a while. To occupy himself, he turned on the video game system in his room and picked out a game.

He hadn't even begun to search for the controller when he heard a knock at the front door. After wondering for a second if it was safe to open the door, he decided to do it. If the monster was at the house, it wouldn't waste its time politely knocking at the front door. The corners of Steven's lips quirked up into a small smile at the mental image. If a monster was going to break in and destroy things, it might as well be nice about it.

A second round of knocking echoed around the house, that one faster and more panicked than the last. "Alright, I'm coming!" Steven exclaimed. He tossed his blankets to the side and ran to the living room, feet pattering along the floor the entire way. He threw open the door without checking to see who was there first. When he saw who stood on the other side, his face broke out into a smile. "Connie, you came back! I thought you were gonna leave," he said.

From her position on the step, she refused to make eye contact. "Can I come in? I...I need to tell you something," she said. Her words seemed unsure, as if it was difficult for her to spit them out.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I'm really sorry. I should've told you earlier. I shouldn't have even came here at all. I mean, if you're mad at me and think I'm bad or something, I understand. I just wanted to warn you," she stammered, sentences running together.

"Woah, slow down. Warn me about what? What's going on? Why would I be mad at you?"

"That monster! I know it's going to be coming here soon. It always does. And it's my fault. It's ripping this whole town apart to try and find me! I didn't want all this damage to happen. I just wanted a friend."

Steven furrowed his brow and asked, "How's it your fault?"

"I made it! It's here because of me. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to be scared of me. " she replied, wasting no time with the revelation. Steven previously wasn't sure if Gems could cry, but now he knew they could. Even under the visor she wore, he could see tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

He wasn't sure what to think. Was she a bad guy? She didn't seem like one. Even though he barely knew her, he didn't think she would do something like that on purpose. Besides, she seemed too torn up over it to have done it on purpose. "How'd you do that?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath, Connie reached to the gem on her temple. The gem glowed, and she pulled something out of it. It was a pen decorated in an old-fashioned style, complete with a feather on the end.

"Wow! What is that? How'd you just pull stuff out of your gem like that? Could I do it, too?"

"It's my weapon. Every Gem has a natural weapon that they are able to summon. I assume you do, too," answered Connie. She remained firmly in her figurative shell, with her shoulders hunched forward and her voice struggling to remain emotionless.

"But that's a pen. How could it be a weapon?"

"I can create projections with it. Anything I imagine can become real, so long as I write it down."

"So you can make anything just by writing? That's so cool! Can you make something right now?" Steven exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

"It's not that simple. Besides, that's how I created that monster in the first place."

"Oh. Right. But how'd you make it? Why?" Steven said, remembering the main reason she had returned.

Connie said, "I don't have much time. I'll tell you, but I have to say it quickly. It all began before I even entered this 'Beach City' you live in..."

...

As she walked through the huge metropolis, Connie's hand instinctively reached for the communicator typically strapped to her side. She grasped at nothing but empty space. When she instantly remembered that she didn't have one anymore, she sighed out loud. An incident involving walking over a bridge on a windy day had caused that situation. The locator had been ripped out of her hand by a particularly strong gust of wind. It had flown into the river below, never to be seen again.

How could she have been so irresponsible? She was only given a simple scouting mission, and she had messed it up. The communicator had been the only familiar object from her home planet on an entirely new world. It had given her something to cling to. Now that it was lost, her last tie to Homeworld had been snapped.

The communicator was her only way to report her findings back to her home or to speak to other scout gems on the planet in case of an emergency. Without it, she had no way to speak to another Gem at all. There may have been some on the same planet, doing the same job as her and collecting information on Earth's native organisms, society, and infrastructure. However, they could've been anywhere and she had no way of finding them.

As she walked through one of Earth's cities, she was surrounded by people. The never-ending stream of humanity surged on every side of her. Some were carrying briefcases or looking at those small time-tellers they called watches, while others tapped at various other devices. Still others travelled the streets in loud, honking vehicles. She had to wonder why they were all in such a hurry. They all seemed like they had a purpose in life; as if they had a goal and knew exactly how to get it. Connie, however, had wandered aimlessly into the first city she'd come upon after losing the device.

Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, almost causing the person behind her to bump into her. An idea had entered her mind, and she wondered why she hadn't thought of it earlier. If she didn't have a communicator, she could create one with her gem. It was a long shot that it would work, but it was worth a try. It was a plan, which was more than she'd had a few minutes ago.

She ducked out of the crowds and bright lights of the main streets into the first alleyway she saw. It wasn't the safest place to be, but it was away from people and quiet enough for the amount of concentration required to use her weapon. She took a deep breath, remembering her basic training. Her gem glowed, bringing a sliver of light into the dark, dingy alleyway. She reached up and pulled her pen from said gem.

The tip of the pen glowed, and she wrote the word _communicator_ on the nearest wall in small, precise handwriting. The letters gave off the same faint gleam as the pen. As she wrote, she did what she had practiced in training countless times. She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking only of the task at hand. If even the smallest slip in concentration occurred, the creation would fail and she'd have to start over.

As the weapon was tied to her thoughts, it required a vivid imagination. To create anything, Connie had to imagine everything about it, down to the last minute detail. The pen would create what she thought of and nothing more. She pictured the communicator in her mind. She had used it her entire time on Earth, so it wasn't hard to visualize the outside appearance. The shining green surface, the boxy but small shape, and the triangular buttons on the side all flashed through her mind.

When she finished imagining and opened her eyes again, a communicator was sitting on the ground in front of where she crouched. The word on the wall had vanished. She smiled in relief at her handiwork, snatching it up and pressing the power button. Her grin fell when nothing happened.

Connie pressed it again, but it remained unresponsive. The communicator appeared fine on the surface, but was nothing more than a useless hunk of metal. She had known the plan probably wouldn't work from the beginning. It was impossible to imagine the exact placement of every wire and bit of circuitry on the inside that made the machine work. That was where she had tripped up.

She threw the communicator on the ground, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke from the impact. When she laid down on her back in the alley, she didn't care about the dirt on the ground or the concrete that dug uncomfortably into her back.

Between the towering buildings that blocked her view, Connie could see a narrow strip of sky. In that moment, she had never felt so small. The sky was too clouded with smog to see the stars, but she knew that Homeworld was out there somewhere in the black expanse. It felt impossibly distant. There wasn't anybody back there who she was truly friends with, but it was still home.

She finally picked herself up off the ground and dragged herself into the bustling outside world, eyes adjusting to the light. As she looked around at the buildings, a smaller one caught her eye. It bore the title of "Public Library." If her memory was correct, it was a place where humans gathered information. Maybe she could find a book on how to build a new communicator! Obviously, the human library wouldn't have access to technologies alien to them, but she might find something similar enough to do the job.

As quickly as she could, she waded through the swarms of people to reach the library. She pushed open the heavy, wooden door and entered. Connie was greeted by the sight of towering shelves of dusty books. There had to be thousands of them, all varying in size, subject matter, and color. It was quiet inside the room, and there were few humans around.

The library seemed huge. She knew that finding the right book might take a long time, but that was okay. She'd take searching for books over uselessly wandering around without a plan any time. She rushed in, searching for the correct section where answers might have been hiding.

As the night wore on, her search grew more and more frantic. After searching through all the books she could find on building a communicator-like device, she found nothing. She had tried to create machines based on what she read in books, but every attempt failed. The plans for Earth technology just didn't cut it. The library had long since closed, but nobody had bothered to come check on her secluded corner of the building-their security was rather relaxed, she supposed.

Once again, she found herself stuck. What if she wasn't able to contact Homeworld? Would they send somebody? She doubted many of the other Gems would even notice she was gone. Her presence was so very tiny, even before she had left. Was she stranded on Earth for the time being, then?

She picked up the pile of books laid out in a neat pile that she'd removed from the shelves, making sure to put them back in their proper places. Her footsteps echoed across the wooden floor as she paced back and forth, nervously fidgeting with her clothes. While attempting to leave, quickly found that the front door was locked for the night. It was no matter, though-the library would most likely have reopened for the next day anyway.

Illuminated by a sliver of moonlight, a book called out to Connie from its place on the shelf. It was in the children's section, but the title on the side looked interesting all the same. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked over to the book that had caught her eye. She might as well take a look at it. It wasn't as if she had anything else to do.

Once she had pulled it off the shelf, the front cover was visible. On it was the title, _A Collection of Illustrated Fairy Tales_ , as well as a faded picture of a girl in a long, flowing gown. She flipped the book open to the first page and kneeled down on the floor. The book's pages were yellow and brittle, and a few of them were dog-eared by the human children who'd read through it in the past. The book was archaic, musty, and offered no help in fixing Connie's problems, but it was a welcome distraction from them.

She spent the remaining hours of the night completely immersed in the old Earth legends of brave knights, fearsome villains, and kind princesses. It was as if she had been transported to another world and lived alongside the characters. There was nothing like it on Homeworld, or even in the instruction manuals she'd read earlier that night. It was simple fun.

By far, her favorite was the story where, instead of simply defeating it like all the others before him, the knight befriended the powerful dragon and went on adventures with it. The two became inseparable, sharing a close bond that Connie could only have dreamed of. The characters were only words on a page, but she envied them already. She wished she could've had someone who would always be her side, never desert her, and form a close friendship with her matched by no other. It wouldn't solve her issues, but a companion would've surely made the long Earth days easier.

Yet another idea occurred to her. Maybe she _could_ have that.

Of course, she didn't have the level of concentration to make another Gem. An actual dragon was out of the question for the same reason. Besides, it would draw too much attention to her as she travelled Earth. She did think, however, that she'd be capable of creating something small-an Earth bird, perhaps?

By that point, the sun had rose from behind the buildings, and the library had opened for another day of business. She put the fairytale book away and ran out of the building as fast as her legs could carry her. For a nice, secluded spot, she returned to the very alleyway she'd been in the night before.

A living being was something she'd never created before, but she thought she could pull it off. It couldn't have been harder to do than to create a communicator, though. That was for sure. It was to be a Gem creature, so creating all the organs Earth possessed wouldn't have needed to be done.

She summoned her pen once again. On the wall, she wrote one word in glowing letters: _friend_. She imagined every detail of the creature as it took form. Her eyes were open, so she was able to see the glowing letters jumping off the wall and rearranging themselves into a definite shape. The curve of the "r" became a beak, the dot of the "i" became an actual eye, and so on. After some time and a fair amount of difficulty in creating the thing, she looked to see the creature standing in front of her on its tiny legs. It looked like a mix between a tiny version of the dragon from the book and a normal Earth bird.

Connie held it in her hands, marveling at the thing she had created. She'd never had any success making something so complicated before, let alone a living thing. In fact, the most she had ever completed was a small, simple sword.

The bird looked up to her with wide, adoring eyes and let out a harmless puff of smoke from its beak. Connie only smiled and pet it with her finger. As it chirped happily, she knew that she'd feel a little less alone on her time on Earth.

...

When Connie finished her story, Steven stared at her, wide-eyed. "But that sounds so nice! The bird sounded really cute. How'd it become all dangerous and stuff?" he asked.

"The monster?" she questioned back. "Well, having it around was nice at the beginning. Later on, everything just kind of went wrong..."


	4. No Longer in Need

"So, what happened after you made the bird-dragon thing?" Steven asked intently. While Connie was telling her story, he had motioned for her to enter the house. They now sat on the couch in the living room. While Steven laid comfortably on it, Connie took up only the edge of the couch and sat with a ramrod-straight back. She continued to tell the story.

...

Connie didn't have much in the way of possessions, but she had a loyal companion and a plan. That was enough in her eyes. After leaving Central City, the very place in which she had created her pet, she had set off on a journey with an entirely new purpose. With her head held high and the bird perched on her shoulder, she crossed city, town, and state borders with ease.

Earth had rotated around the sun a total of fifteen times since that one fateful night she'd spent in the library. She had spent the days since then in search of another Gem who was able to contact Homeworld. Then, she could send for a new communicator to continue her mission as planned.

In that moment, however, she hadn't had much luck. As she sat down on a log to collect herself, she took note of where she had been and where she would be going. Clutched in her hand was a map she'd picked up from a tourist stop somewhere along the line and unfolded it. She studied the worn and creased paper, wondering if her bird was peeking at it as well from its resting spot on her shoulder.

Remembering her previous travels, she assessed which states she had visited and where she currently resided. She had made it across a majority of the states. Once she completed a thorough search of all of them, she would move onto a neighboring nation and continue traveling until she accomplished her goal.

She found herself in the forests of Keystone, sitting next to a road that snaked through the trees. Green pine trees stretched tall into the sky, while the chirping of birds and rustling leaves could be heard. A deer stood on the paved road in front of Connie. Slits of golden light reached through the trees as the sun set. It seemed like a place where fairies and spirits similar to the ones from the fairytale would hide from humans.

There was no set organization-plants grew where they pleased and animals did what they wanted. Somehow, there was a quiet beauty to it. Everything worked well together despite a lack of the rigid efficiency that ruled Homeworld.

Folding the map up into a tiny square, she decided to keep moving alongside the road until she made it to the next train station. From there, she would hitch a ride into Delmarva. She walked along the narrow strip of grass separating the road from the forest in case a car went past her.

"You know, I have to name you sometime," she said to the bird. She had to do something to make the long walk seem faster, after all. If it understood her, it didn't respond. "But I just can't pick one. I mean, a name has to sound pleasing, have meaning, and relate to the personality at the same time. Do you understand?"

If the bird did understand, it didn't respond with so much as a chirp. It only continued to watch her every move, its beady eyes remaining consistently trained on her. She sighed. In the free moments spent on trains or walking, she had time to think. She struggled to come up for the perfect name for the bird. Maybe having one would give it more of a separate identity from her.

Connie kept walking. Before she was able to get so much as a few steps away, a low rumble broke the peaceful forest scene. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to see a massive truck puttering down the road next to her. Despite its size and impressively fast speed, it maneuvered down the road with ease.

Things changed rapidly as it approached the deer. The truck swerved off to the side to avoid hitting it. The animal's long, spindly legs kicked into high gear and sprinted off the road and into the forest. Connie was marginally aware of seeing its white tail bobbing away. Before long, it had vanished completely.

She focused her attention back to the truck. It had spun off the pavement and drove directly towards her. Her instincts screamed at her to run, and run she did. She was unable to do so much as scream; nothing escaped her lips but a pitiful squeak. Although she tried to run sideways from the truck, it was much faster than she was. With no time to create anything with her weapon, she felt helpless. The towering, metal monster barreled closer and closer to her anyway, about to crush anything in its path. If it got near her gem, she'd be done for.

Suddenly, her vision of the vehicle was blocked by a blur of green. The bird, which hovered in the air between her and the truck, had suddenly grown ten times its size. The razor-sharp talons on its feet and its wings spread out over several feet. When the car screeched to a stop just shy of the forest, the bird opened its beak and let out a plume of fire. Thankfully, it just missed the truck.

The driver of the vehicle leaned out the window so that only his face was visible. "What the holy heck is goin' on here?!" he yelled, face red and drops of sweat rolling down his forehead. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Just get out of here!" Connie yelled back to the large man. He didn't need to be told twice. In record speed, he pulled the truck into reverse so it was back on the pavement and sped off. That meant Connie and the bird were alone. It didn't feel as relieving as it once did.

The bird turned its head to stare at the retreating truck. Before it could move an inch, Connie firmly stood her ground, taking a wide stance, and stared up at it. "No. Stop! That human is not a threat!" she screamed, hoping it wouldn't notice the brief moment where her voice quavered. To her surprise, it obliged. It morphed into its smaller form and perched on her shoulder as if nothing had ever happened.

Connie's head spun with new questions as she stared off into space, trying to process the prior events. How had the creature managed to change its size like that? Her best guess was that it had gained the powers of the weapon that it came from. It was most likely able to shapeshift itself and create things as well. Connie hadn't even learned to change her shape yet. She had created the bird to be smart and a fast learner so it could understand her, and it showed.

She had never made a living creature before. Had the bird somehow gained a level of sentience that went past what she could imagine? She could only guess.

She saw no choice but to continue her journey. Maybe the incident was a one-time thing, after all. She'd just have to be more careful around the humans' vehicles. A feeling in her gut told a different story, however. As she looked at the bird one last time before walking forward again, its presence provided a sense of uneasiness, rather than the companionship it had originally had.

Connie wondered if the bird's narrowed, unending stare had always felt so empty.

...

Steven listened as Connie's story finally drew to a close. "After that, it just kept getting more and more dangerous. My guess was that it saw everything as a threat. I don't know if it was trying to protect itself, or me, or whatever. All I know is that it kept getting worse in human environments. Now, it just attacks everything on sight and I don't know how to stop it!"

"Did you try talking to it?" Steven asked. "Maybe if it knew that everything wasn't going to hurt it, it wouldn't be scared all the time."

I tried that. It doesn't listen to anything anymore. The only way to defeat it without it regenerating would be if I used my weapon, because that's where the bird came from. But it's too fast for that."

"It's okay. Everything's gonna be fine. Pearl and Garnet and Amethyst and my mom are looking for it. They always get the monsters! It's their job," Steven exclaimed.

"I don't know, Steven. I tried to get away from it, but it's looking for me everywhere. Once I leave Beach City, I'll go somewhere where there aren't people around-so no one gets hurt, you know?"

"But wouldn't that get lonely?" Steven asked, cheerful demeanor faltering. Connie only shrugged defeatedly in response. A silence hung over them for what felt like eons. It was only broken by an ear-splitting bird's call coming from outside.

Connie's jaw dropped open. "Oh, no. It found us," she whispered. Steven ran to the window, and she followed right at his heels. He pushed the curtain out of the way to reveal dark clouds concentrated in the sky in the general area of the house. Charging at them from the beach was none other than Connie's bird. The green creature seemed to grow with every second as it grew closer. "I should've left a long time ago," Connie said. "Now it's going to come here! I shouldn't have dragged you into all this, Steven."

Before he could respond, Connie grabbed him by the hand and pulled away from the window. "Wait! We could hide in the closet over there," Steven exclaimed. He led the way, running into the nearest closet and slamming the door after Connie had entered. Steven could hear his own heavy breathing, and felt his heart beating wildly against his rib cage. As he rustled past the old coats hanging in the closet, he found Connie sitting against the back wall. He caught sight of a faint green glow coming from her gem. In the dark, cramped space, it was especially noticeable. "What're you doing?" he asked.

Connie placed a finger to her lips and shushed him softly. "It might hear us," she whispered, voice barely audible. "I have an idea. I'm going to end this mess. This can't keep going. That thing out there isn't my friend anymore; all it does is put everyone in danger."

Steven watched with rapt attention as she pulled her weapon from her gem. Connie wrote something on the wall in glowing letters, before tucking the pen away. He gasped in awe as the letters began to shift into something else entirely.

A muffled crash and the splintering of wood was heard from the front door. Steven subconsciously wrapped his arms around himself and curled into a ball. He knew without a doubt that the bird had broken into the house. There was a monster loose a few yards away from him. Although Gem monsters were far from unusual in his town, the danger had never felt so intense. In the inky darkness, he could barely see Connie's features furrowing into a scowl. He could tell she was trying desperately not to break her concentration.

The letters on the wall lost some of their otherworldly glow as Connie's focus clearly went to the outside noises. The noises of the monster crashing about was soon joined by the pattering of footsteps and the occasional blast of a weapon or shout. It became clear that Steven's mom and the team had arrived and had begun to fight the monster. That brought him a sliver of relief.

He silently urged Connie on, hoping she'd be able to complete whatever she was making despite the chaos outside the small haven of quiet that was their hiding spot. Steven could see her face relaxing as the letters began glowing again and reformed into its desired shape.

"You did it!" congratulated Steven, giving her a thumbs-up. Connie shushed his loud tone again, although the grin on her face was evident. "Oh, right. You did it!" he repeated in a hushed tone. Connie gave him a thumbs-up sign in return and picked up the object she created. It was a sword, small and thin to accommodate her size but sharp nonetheless. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands while examining it carefully.

The moment was ruined when the door burst open. Light and color flooded into the dark space. When Steven's eyes adjusted, he took in the sight of the monster looming over him, hovering off the floor. He looked over to see that the door had been ripped off its hinges and now lay flat on the nearby carpet. Steven could only scream in terror.

He lifted up its shirt and patted the gem on his stomach. There had to be a weapon in there somewhere in there like Connie had, right? "Weapon, activate!" he yelled. "Gem weapon, I summon you! Oh, come on. What to I need to say? Weapon, appear! Pretty please with frosting on top?" he continued. His gem remained unresponsive, and he remained defenseless as the bird opened its beak and shot its fiery breath directly at him. It wasn't after Connie, but him specifically. Maybe it saw him as a threat for getting close to Connie as well.

In the instant right before Steven would have gotten roasted, he practically tackled Connie and pushed her out of the way of the second column of flame. There was a smoking and flaming black hole in the carpet, but they were both safe. However, the sword clattered out of Connie's grip and landed on the floor. It couldn't have been more than a few feet away, but getting it back would prove difficult.

Luckily, the monster became distracted with the task of avoiding the blasts fired at it by Steven's mom and the team, which had rapidly approached the scene. At such close range, he was surprised it moved quickly enough to avoid getting taken out. Its wings and limbs jerked around at an unnaturally fast pace, and it evaded every attack. The only way to hit it would be to break its concentration entirely.

From Steven's vantage point on the ground, he saw Connie crawling forward slowly, so as not to draw attention to herself, and reaching at the sword. The monster turned its narrowed gaze back to Steven. He suddenly came up with an idea and acted upon it on impulse. Looking into Connie's eyes, he motioned to the monster. She nodded at him while her hand closed the distance and wrapped around the hilt of the sword. An unspoken agreement passed between them. Neither was quite sure what the other had in mind, but they would work it out as they went.

Steven jumped to his feet and waved his arms in the air. "Hey, over here! Look at me!" he shouted. He ran off to one side of the hallway.

The sounds of the others' weapons had gone silent. "Steven, don't! No!" yelled Pearl amongst the chaos.

The bird turned its head to Steven, preparing to unleash yet another torrent of fire. In the nick of time, Connie aimed the sword and threw it at the monster. The blade hit its target according to plan. The instant the sword struck the bird's feathery chest, it vanished in a huge puff of smoke. The sword fell from midair to the carpet below. It too went away, leaving nothing but a puff behind.

Right before the monster disappeared, Steven swore it had a betrayed look in its eyes. He almost felt bad for it, in some strange way. It wanted to protect Connie and was reacting to fear. However, he had to admit that it was a danger to town and to himself. As it was basically dead, it was rendered unable to destroy anything more.

Once the smoke cleared, three confused faces stared at him. Steven took in his mother's utterly perplexed look, Amethyst's wide-eyed gape, and Pearl's jittery posture. Garnet had run off to the kitchen, returning with the fire hydrant kept in the house. Her face was unreadable as she sprayed it over the carpet, effectively putting out the stray fires.

"Steven, who's this?" Pearl said, walking up to him and taking him by the shoulder.

"Oh, that's Connie. I just met her yesterday on the beach."

Connie responded with an awkward wave. "Sorry about your carpet. And the door. And...the town, I guess," she said sheepishly.

"You were behind all this?" responded Pearl, stepping between her and Steven. He took note of the fact that nobody had put away their weapons.

"Okay, can someone explain what the heck is going on here?" asked Amethyst, throwing her hands up into the air.

"That's...kind of a long story," said Steven.

"Well, the short version is that I created the monster with my gem. It kind of went out of control," explained Connie.

"So it was a projection created by a gem. That's why we couldn't find the Gem shard," mused Pearl, frantically scribbling down notes on the monster.

"But why would you make something like that?" asked Amethyst.

"I just wanted someone to talk to. I swear, I didn't mean for this to get so out of hand."

"Wait!" Steven piped up. "Now that the monster's gone, did you want to come see Beach City? It won't take too long."

"Oh, yes. I'd love to stay here, at least for a little while longer. But is it okay with them?" she said, glancing at the other women. They exchanged wary glances with one another.

"I don't know about this. I know you might have had good intentions, but what if that monster regenerates?" asked Pearl.

Connie explained how her weapon was used and that since the bird came from said weapon, that it could be permanently defeated by the same weapon. The others listened on. "Please," she finished, "I won't hurt Steven. I promise. I'll even clean up the mess in town. And the house."

"We do need the cleanup. It's thousands of dollars in property damage, after all," Garnet said, more to the others than to Steven or Connie.

They nodded to each other, before Rose spoke up to give the final decision. "Okay, Steven. You can show Connie around Beach City."

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the tips of his toes. "When can we go?"

The others only chuckled.

...

Fluffy clouds wafted lazily across the bright blue sky. A gentle sea breeze tugged through everything in its path. Waves lapped gently underneath the boardwalk, and narrow slits of water were visible if one looked between the planks. If it weren't for the destroyed buildings, the town would've looked the same as always, almost peaceful.

The townspeople were slowly coming out of their houses while Connie and Steven sat on the boardwalk. As expected, none of them objected to the help. Connie was in the midst of creating a new canopy for a sweet shop, her pen out and put to good use. As Steven sat nearby, he waved to Pearl, who was watching them to make sure nothing happened. After the canopy was complete, Connie wiped her brow.

"And over there is the amusement park, and over there is the beach, and way over there is the arcade," Steven said once she was finished, pointing wildly to the places in town. He was determined to show her the entire town and everything it had to offer. "They're closed now, but they'll be open again sometime."

"Steven?"

"Yeah, Connie?"

"I've...I've really liked spending time with you. I'm really gonna miss this place. Thanks for everything."

"You're leaving?"

Connie looked down dejectedly. "I don't know yet. I'll figure it out once the town is all cleaned up. I have a job to do for some people I'm working for back home. But for now, I'm staying."

Steven nodded his head. "I guess I understand. One more thing..."

"Yes?"

"Do you think that monster is ever gonna come back?"

She smiled, face lighting up. Her eyes glanced around at both Steven and the city. In that instant, Steven knew that she was finally free. The other Gem responded with conviction, saying, "No. I don't need it anymore."


End file.
